Scarlett Bernard knows about personal space: step within ten feet of her, and anything supernatural is instantly neutralized—vampires and werewolves become human again, and witches can’t cast the slightest spell. Scarlett uses her status as a null to cover up crime scenes for Los Angeles’s three most powerful magical communities, helping them keep humanity, and the LAPD, in the dark.One night … night Scarlett gets caught at the scene of a grisly murder by the all-too-human LAPD cop Jesse Cruz, who blackmails her into a deal: he’ll keep quiet about the supernatural underworld if she helps him crack the case. Their pact doesn’t sit well with Dashiell, the city’s chief vampire, who fears his whole empire is at stake. And when the clues start to point to Scarlett herself, it’ll take more than her unique powers to catch the real killer and clear her name.
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Found another jewel! I want more from this world.
Love the null concept.
Scarlett Bernard is a null who cleans up supernatural messes in LA. A null is someone who creates a magic dead zone around themselves in which vampires become human, Weres are forced back into their human forms, and witches can’t do magic while in their presence. A gruesome triple murder that Scarlett almost gets caught by police is the start of her troubles. A police officer, Jesse who spotted her at the scene tracks her down, and they end up working together to try and solve the murders.
Scarlett being a null and a supernatural janitor is a great premise for a novel. The supporting cast, such as Molly, Scarlett’s perky vampire roommate, Eli, her werewolf apprentice and off/on again boyfriend, Jesse, the rookie detective new to the supernatural world were very enjoyable. The pacing on the book was good and keeps you turning the page.
The only issue I had with the book was switching point of view. The book is written in first person from Scarlett’s point of view but switches to third person for chapters were Jesse is the main character of the scene. I found that change jarring and wished the author just wrote the entire novel in third person point of view.
Look forward to reading more of this exciting series.
I’ve been looking for a new paranormal/urban fantasy series and this is it. Fans of Zanetti, Briggs and Ilona Andrews will like these.
I was a quick easy read but I had no sense of who was who as names changed and different characters were introduced. Not a favorite, but others might enjoy it.
Great series. I came to Olson’s books later than I should have, but now that I’m here, I won’t be leaving any time soon.
I love the new take on vampires and magic in this series. The big three groups; Vampire, Werewolves and Witches, co-exist in LA leading to lots of problems and good mysteries to solve, with surprises. Interesting interaction between various characters make it fun, frightening and a tad romantic.
I absolutely love scarlet!!! I cannot say enough about Melissa Olson books. She is feisty and finds herself in many adventures. She is a null, a magical null, so she helps the vampires, witches, and werewolves of LA with crime or any problems they have. She has good snark and has good friends around her.
Melisa Olson also does the boundary witch series that are exceptional. The story of scarlet and lex coexist at the same time and do interact but you can read one without the other.
I loved the book. The ending was so good I Have to read the next book in the series. I can’t wait to start reading Trail of Dead.
Dead Spots by Melissa F Olson and narrated by Amy McFadden is book one in a series about vampires, werewolves, witches and more. Our gal of the story is a Null. That is something special that cancels out the magic of all the supernatural creatures that are close to her. There is only a handful in the world. She works for a crabby vamp doing clean up! I don’t mean cleaning houses. She ends up getting accused of killing victims of a scene she was sent to clean. Cops got there first, the master camp is mad and others noted a Null there prior to the death. Now she has a limited time to find the real killer or she will be killed to save face for the master vamp.
It ends in a “to be continued” which I hate! This is the book’s only flaw. I knocked off a star for that but everything else I really enjoyed.
The narrator was very good.
I loved the Boundary Magic series by Melissa F Olson and had to give the Scarlett Bernard series a try. This series doesn’t disappoint. Scarlett Bernard is a Null – she has the ability to negate magic around her which means that witches cannot cast spells and that vampires and werewolves become human when they’re within her radius. She feels responsible for the death of her parents and her relationship with her brother is rocky. She’s wallowing in guilt and has become pretty jaded for a 20-something year old. A lot of that has to do with her job which is cleaning up crime scenes for the heads of the vampires, werewolves and witches of LA.
Scarlett’s world gets rocked when a job she’s supposed to do doesn’t go to plan and she meets Jesse Cruz, a young police officer. Their chance encounter at a bloody crime scene pulls him into the “Old World” of vampires, werewolves and witches. Scarlett convinces the head of the vampires that Jesse Cruz should not be killed but can help her solve this mystery instead.
I love Olson’s writing, especially the switch between first and third person as she explains what Scarlett and Jesse are each thinking and feeling. I highly recommend this series as well as her Boundary Magic series.
I have loved every book by this author. Her Scarlet Bernard, Disrupted Magic and Boundary Magic series all share some of her characters and are so great to read. Her settings are well researched and so realistic.
Okay, so I’m not usually either a paranormal fan OR a mystery fan, and as it happens, “Dead Spots” is both: a classic whodunnit set in a world of vampires, witches and werewolves. Didn’t matter; I couldn’t put it down.
The story takes place in modern day Los Angeles, where paranormal creatures more or less blend in with normal humans—and sometimes clash with them. Our heroine, Scarlett, has the unique ability to turn paranormal creature into non-magical humans when they’re close to her, an effect that enables her to work as a kind of crime-scene clean-up crew when magic gets out of hand. It also gives her a certain amount of power in the magical community while simultaneously making her vulnerable, an interesting dynamic that the book explores well.
Scarlett herself is a classic private-eye type heroine, tough, wounded, vulnerable and empathic all at the same time. The story does a nice job of exploring her relationships with friends and (potential) lovers. While this book can be read as a standalone, it also sets us up for the next one in the series, which I’m excited to read.
Highly recommended.